I posted photos of all the dogs in the gallery, and Liz mentioned Harley does not look skinny. Now I need others opinions because I stress all the time that he is melting away from his medical condition. I can feel his ribs and see his spine more than I ever could.

He has had the gastroparesis for years, which means intermittently puking and not eating. The mitazapine and reglan have helped immensely. Some days he is very finicky on what he will eat and sometimes I feel like I am feeding him rusty nails, the way he looks at it and walks away.

I hate posting on my phone so here's a better reply - you should be able to feel his ribs without having to push hard and you may be able to feel his spine due to some muscle loss due to his age. LiLo's spine is always very prominent and she is in her ideal weight range but she has a lot of muscle loss.

And I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but in all of the pictures I have seen all of your dogs look to be in the high end of their weight range - as in a few extra pounds. There is nothing wrong with that - especially with Harley's tummy issue he can probably drop pounds in just a day or two so I think it's good he is at the higher end because if he drops a pound or two it isn't going to really effect him. If he were a few pounds lighter and he lost weight you would see a dramatic difference which would be hard on you and not good for him either.

When LiLo got really sick a few weeks ago she dropped like 4lbs almost overnight just from not eating and dehydration and she looked horrible, very sunken in and skinny. She is right in her ideal weight range so a few pounds lost makes a big impact.

I also agree with Shanna, considering his health issues and how often he goes off of his food I'm amazed you can keep the weight on him! He looks GREAT, you would never know he's picky and has tummy issues because he doesn't look like he has an eating problem at all.

I will agree that my dogs are always chubbas, Suzanne. Wait till Mallika sees this...she will vote NOT SKINNY. For all of them.

I never thought about his age and muscle loss. I swear his spine juts out and I see his skeleton sometimes.

Apparently, I need to see him differently. When he stopped eating last summer, and I thought I was going to lose him, I became obsessed with his weight.

It's definitely scary when they go off of their food. It's very disheartening for us to watch them struggle. I'm sure in your case you're always wondering if this is "it" or that he's really "done" with eating.

I was told that in order for them to build muscle on their spine they need to do a lot of jumping? Not sure if it's true. He's 10yrs old so he probably isn't as active as he used to be? In LiLo's case her hips are crap and she's lost muscle in her hips and her spine. She is getting older though also. As Sofie aged, and lost a few pounds her spine stuck up more. But she was also waaaay less active than she had been when she was younger so I attributed a lot of the weight loss to muscle loss.

I don't know if it would help but you could always take measurements of him and if you think he's losing weight measure him. If he goes down in inches then you known to try to feed him more, but if he's the same then you wouldn't need to worry that he is getting skinnier.

Suzanne, you bring up a good point that I can now attribute Sammy's spine poking out more. Never thought of it until you said the thing about muscle in the back is built up from jumping. I have had to keep him from jumping and going down stairs so much because of his back issues he has been having. Thanks for bringing that up. Sorry Joyce, didn't mean to hijack your thread.

[quote="plebayo"] I'm sure in your case you're always wondering if this is "it" or that he's really "done" with eating. [quote/] I think you hit it on the head.

[quote] He's 10yrs old so he probably isn't as active as he used to be?[quote/]He use to walk 5 miles a day with me and 10-15 on the weekends. We stopped because I figured if he used more calories, he would get thinner using up his calories.

Don't think twice about hijacking, Missy. Suzanne has given some information others may not have thought of.

Like I said, I'm not sure if it's true. It DID come up in a conversation with a client and that is what the doctor I was helping told them... and I do think it makes sense. I think they use their back muscles for climbing stairs, hills, and jumping onto things.

well, you knew it! He doesn't really look fat, per se; to me, he looks like Oscar, everywhere except the waist part, which Oscar has more of one. You'll also want to look at the hips, Joyce, if there is padding on top of the hips, and I can see he has that.

We won't discuss Darlene

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

Here's vote #5 million for NOT SKINNY. He's got some to spare (and like it was said previously, he can use it on those harder days, so it's good)!

You know Joyce, we've got that poster at work that has pictures of tubby dogs on it and says: It's easy to see when a dog is fat... Except when it's yours. Now I'm not saying your dogs are fat (well-endowed, perhaps), but our perceptions often differ when it comes to our dogs (and the same with people and their kids).

You are all so polite about my dogs being chubbas. Except Mallika, who always just tells me straight out.

call2arms wrote:You know Joyce, we've got that poster at work that has pictures of tubby dogs on it and says: It's easy to see when a dog is fat... Except when it's yours. Now I'm not saying your dogs are fat (well-endowed, perhaps), but our perceptions often differ when it comes to our dogs (and the same with people and their kids).

That poster was made for me. And you are right, our perceptions are different for others. Whenever I pick them up at the kennel after not seeing them for 7 days, I think: "Who ARE these fat dogs???" then I get a reality check when the kennel owners remind me that they might have lost weight from the excitement of being there and eating habits being changed. Lost weight?? Yikes.....I was thinking they gained more since they look different after a week.